Til Death Do Us Apart
by SpookyGoof
Summary: Despite the warmth of Fareeha's arms, Angela feels sleepless one night. She finds comfort in remembering their sweetest moments, but not everything is as they would have hoped. A promise, however, remains a promise. Pharmercy oneshot


A gust of wind rocked the curtains, and Angela fixed her eyes on the soothing movement in the moonlight. The window was slightly ajar and she sighed against the cold air that smoothed her face.

Absentmindedly, she traced circles on the back of Fareeha's hand, who held her close in an embrace. Angela could feel each breath she took against her neck as she slept pressed to her back.

Her thoughts started to drift away from their closeness to the day they met and how Fareeha had held her gaze a moment too long. How Angela smiled before turning away and hiding behind a lock of hair.

Then they met again - bumped into each other in the canteen. Fareeha had made some lousy comment about the cold weather, but luckily it gave Angela a chance to ask her about her home in Egypt. They talked all through lunch and by the end of the hour they felt like teenagers again.

Another gust of wind blew through the window and Angela snuggled closer to Fareeha. She mumbled something in her sleep before relaxing again and inching closer towards Angela's neck. It was peaceful, and it was in times like these that the doctor didn't mind the insomnia that would otherwise plague her.

In the week that followed there were more stolen glances and shy hello's. More small talk and questions about themselves. Slowly, the questions got deeper, got more personal, until Angela's heart nearly burst when Fareeha asked her out.

A smile crossed her face as she remembered their free afternoon. Going for ice cream seemed casual and innocent, though she couldn't help but notice that Fareeha was more nervous than usual. She would glance down at her feet before talking, and when it was time to go she cleared her throat awkwardly, gathered her thoughts, and hesitantly spoke her mind.

"I really like you, Angela. Hard not to." She chuckled. "I was wondering if maybe..." Angela's mind was racing and she listened intently. "If maybe you'd let me take you out on a date sometime."

Fareeha cast her glance away from Angela, anxiously awaiting her response. The doctor could barely stop herself from laughing.

"I really like you too. And I'd be glad to."

Angela focused on the clock hanging on the opposite side of the room, trying to make out the time in the darkness. She squinted. 1 am. She didn't want the night to end, caught up in her own thoughts and the warm feeling of being held against the cold air from the window.

Months and months had passed and she and Fareeha were growing closer and closer. Despite the war and the constant fear, time seemed to go faster and past worries didn't seem so daunting. They had been together a year and Angela knew she wasn't ever going to let go of her. It may have sounded silly, like some teen romance story, but she felt like she found "the one". She longed for the days when the fighting would stop, when she and Fareeha would settle down somewhere. She didn't even care where. She just wanted to live out her days with her in peace.

There were plenty of trips out in the moonlight. Plenty of nights spent stargazing and wondering what it would have been and what it would be. Plenty of promises, and of kisses like seals of agreement, and of binding I love you's.

Even in the times where they would wake in the middle of the night, teary and fearful of whatever plagued their sleep, they would hold each other close and whisper the same promises until sleep took them once more.

Fareeha believed they could be heroes. That they would bring justice to the world and in return the world would let them live out their days like they had hoped.

She was younger then.

Angela didn't want to remember the rest. She wished that sleep would come to her now and that she would wake in a new state of mind. But it didn't, and she couldn't stop her thoughts from continuing.

That morning was no different from any other. They made each other coffee and joked about whatever place they were being sent to. They were slightly late getting ready, but they headed out with the others, all equipped and focused.

No one could have known that the temple was going to collapse.

What Angela remembers is a blur. The whole team rushed out. There was screaming and Winston led them all to the exit. The walls were coming down and their only way out seemed to vanish before their eyes. That was when Fareeha swooped in, glided above their heads in her Raptora and held the pillar in place for a moment longer. She yelled at them to hurry and they all made it out. As she let go, the exit crumbled, and Fareeha was lost in the rubble.

Angela shut her eyes tightly as she recalled the vigorous search that commenced. There were voices shouting all around her and people hurrying this way and that, but to her the world was spinning out of control. She remembered seeing them pull her limp body from under the rubble, bits of her suit broken and fallen off, and blood dripping onto the floor.

The doctor rushed to her, yelling instructions, frantically doing everything in her power. The following hours were worse than anything else she had experienced. She had seen soldiers blown to pieces, men and women ripped and torn and disintegrated. But nothing compared to the unresponsive Fareeha wilting in her arms.

They had taken her back to base. All the healers and doctors attended her, and it had paid off too. She was slowly coming back. But the damage to her body had already been done.

Fareeha had no choice. She couldn't keep fighting. She resigned.

Angela had been by her side not only when she was fighting for her life, but also in the following weeks when she was devastated that everything she aspired to do was now nothing more than a distant dream. Her days as a soldier were over. She felt like a failure, though in everyone's minds, she was a hero.

"I'm sorry, Angie," she said to her.

"What for? Fareeha you saved our lives. We owe everything to you."

She choked back her tears. "I'm sorry I'm like this now."

Angela had no further doubts. She, too, resigned.

Fareeha shifted in her sleep and took a deep breath as she awoke. Her hand took Angela's.

"You still awake?" she whispered.

Angela squeezed her hand in reply.

There was a brief silence before Fareeha spoke up again. "Angie? Would you mind helping me to the bathroom?" After all these years, her tone was still hesitant. Still apologetic.

"Of course not."

Angela sat up and helped Fareeha do the same. She inched to the edge of the bed and Angela walked over to her side and helped her into her wheelchair.

One last memory rocked Angela's chest. The procedure seemed longer than it should have been. She had been the one to amputate Fareeha's legs.

"I'm sorry," Fareeha whispered.

Angela's heart broke at the guilt in her voice. How could she make her understand that this wasn't her fault? That she wasn't a burden. That Angela would love and care for her no matter what.

She bent down and kissed her head like she had done so many times.

How could she make her understand that Angela hadn't forgotten the promises they made?


End file.
